Monthly Archives: June 2015

It has been announced today that Sauber Test driver Raffaele Marciello will get another taste of Formula 1 action at Silverstone as he will again drive for Sauber in Free Practice 1 this Friday.

The Ferrari Driver Academy graduate saw some Friday action at the Malaysian and Spain Grands Prix while he was also behind the wheel of the C34 at the in-season tests at Barcelona and the Red Bull Ring. He is once again expected to replace Swede Marcus Ericsson.

In an interview with the media today, Marciello is looking forward to his outing in Silverstone and is looking forward to driving the Sauber around the circuit in FP1 and also in GP2 and showing what he can do on the track throughout the weekend ahead. Marciello stated the following:-

‘I am looking forward to another FP1 session. In general I like fast tracks; Silverstone is one of my favorites. The Becketts section particularly is always a challenge.

‘I am pleased to again be driving the Sauber C34-Ferrari. It is the third time I will be driving the car in FP1 – after Malaysia and Spain. Together with my GP2 duties, I am looking forward to another busy race weekend.’

It is clear that Marciello is looking forward to a busy weekend for him at Silverstone and is looking forward to driving the track in FP1 with Sauber and during the GP2 race weekend as well. The fact that Marciello has received another outing with Sauber show that he is doing a great job for them and he is also gaining mileage and experience incase the call for a race seat comes in the near future.

And that is all Marciello can do; deliver and perform on the track as much as possible and show everyone that he has the talent and the speed required to be successful in GP2 and most importantly in GP2 for the rest of the season ahead. I will be looking forward to seeing how he performs this weekend.

Over the weekend, Red Bull Team Principal in an interview with the media Christian Horner in an interview with the media has ended speculation his job is under threat by confirming he has signed a contract extension.

With Red Bull still struggling and owner Dietrich Mateschitz once again threatening to pull the team out of F1 completely; there were rumours Horner’s role at the team was at risk. As team principal Horner has been instrumental in turning Red Bull from a midfield outfit to a team which won four drivers’ and constructors’ championships in a row.

In an interview with the media at the Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, Horner brushed off the speculation and confirmed a new long-term deal. Horner stated the following:-

‘I didn’t lose any sleep over it because it is absolutely not true. I recently signed an extension to my contract with Red Bull. I have a great relationship with Dietrich Mateschitz and my goal is very much on getting the team back to the situation we were in 18 months ago.’

From what Horner has stated, he has now put the rumours to bed by confirming his contract extension. It is clear that Horner has now intentions of leaving Red Bull and wants to get the team back to winning ways as soon as he possibly can.

Further on in his interview with the media this weekend, Horner blames social media for the rumours and thinks its always important to take them with a pinch of salt. Horner added the following on the situation as follows:-

‘It is total rubbish. The thing is not to put too much energy into things like that, but in the world we live in sometimes people from rival teams say things and they get picked up and then a story goes on the internet and it goes from there.

‘That is the problem with social media – two weeks ago I was taking over from Bernie [Ecclestone], this week I was leaving the team, next week I’ll be driving the car probably.’

As Horner rightly says, social media is good for the sport as it allows fans to communicate with each other and also the teams and the drivers to interact with the fans. However, it does have its downsides as Horner has said with rumours that are untrue coming to light but all you can do as he rightly points out is to ignore that and concentrate on the job at hand.

And that is what Horner will do. Let us not forget that Horner is the man responsible for getting Red Bull to the front of the grid and achieving four consecutive Drivers and Constructors Championships and he’ll be the man that brings that back to the team as well; even though it’ll take some time, hard work and patience to achieve that, but it’ll be ever the more sweeter when it happens.

It has been announced over the course of the weekend that the Lotus team is not planning to promote Jolyon Palmer to a race seat next year and has confirmed it has Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean signed on until the end of 2016.

Lotus paired Maldonado with fellow former GP2 champion Grosjean last season and this year added Palmer, the most recent winner of F1’s feeder series, to the role of third driver. Palmer has already competed in several FP1 sessions this year and will continue that trend at every European round of the season, while he was also behind the wheel for both days of the post-Austrian GP test.

In his interview with the media this weekend, Lotus deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi whether Palmer was in the running for a 2016 seat said the following:-

‘No, at the moment we have the same [line-up]. Pastor and Romain are signed until the end of the next season and we hope Jolyon will stay with us as well as a third driver.’

It is clear that the Lotus team are happy with the way things are driver-wise in the team at the moment and see no reason to change anything. But for Gastaldi to state that he wants Palmer to stay in the team in his current role for next season has to be positive and shows that the team value him as a driver firstly and what he brings to the team as well.

Lotus are keen to keep the Englishman in his current role for another season and further on in his interview this weekend; Gastaldi admits he sees him as a vital part of the team’s future. Gastaldi added the following:-

‘He’s here because he’s been winning in all the series to be here. It’s not by mistake he’s here, we have big plans for him. He’s obviously now going through the learning process to be more confident with a Formula One car. So I think he’s the future.

‘He’s a good driver, that’s for sure. It would be good to have the next good English driver around us.’

Gastaldi sums it up quite nicely for me. Palmer is no doubt a very talented driver and deserves the opportunity as reigning GP2 champion to test for a Formula One team such as Lotus and gain experience and mileage in Formula One; ready if the call for a race seat should arise. So far this season, Palmer has shown that he has the potential and the speed needed to race in Formula One and the fact that he has received more outings this season reflects that.

Overall, Palmer as a racing driver will not be happy with the decision Lotus has made but he will understand why that decision has been made. And if I was him; I’d stick with the Lotus team if a suitable seat that is reflective of his talent cannot be found. Lotus are giving him an opportunity that many young drivers in his position would kill for and Palmer is grabbing it with both hands and is showing what he can do when he is on the track.

All Palmer can do is keep doing what he is doing in his role, acquire mileage and experience with the team and ensure that he keeps his name in the frame for 2017; as I feel that could be his chance to get into the sport full time and finally achieve the dream of becoming a F1 driver and it would be great if that happened to him and also for British Motorsport too.

Over the course of the weekend, it has been announced by the FIA that the Mercedes and Ferrari teams were investigated during the Canadian Grand Prix to ensure neither team was using ‘trick oil’ systems to gain an advantage over their rivals, with tests returning a negative result.

With fears that some teams had been gaining an advantage by finding a way of storing fuel for an extra boost led to a clampdown on fuel systems at the Spanish Grand Prix. After that race the focus shifted to oil systems and whether certain teams had been adding performance-boosting chemicals into their engines to increase power.

Mindful that loopholes were potentially being exploited, the FIA conducted a detailed analysis of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel’s cars during the Canadian Grand Prix after free practice and qualifying. However in a report that has been issued on the matter; the FIA has clarified there is no concern over the legality of the oil systems being used by both teams following those tests. The FIA announced the following in their report into the matter as follows:-

‘The viscosity analysis showed a slight reduction in the viscosity of the oil in the main tank compared to that of the equivalent auxiliary tank in both cars and the differences can be attributed to fuel dilution, as expected under normal operating conditions,’ the report said.

‘The InfraRed analysis showed no significant difference between the oil in the main tank and the one in the equivalent auxiliary tank in both cars. Further the GC analysis showed no differences between the oil in the auxiliary tank and the one in the main tank for both cars. It also showed no difference between the oil in the main tank on Friday FP2 and Qualifying for both cars.

‘Headspace analysis at 120°C confirmed the presence of fuel in the main tank oil samples (both FP2 and Qualifying), whereas none was detected in the auxiliary tank oil samples. This, again, is due to the expected fuel dilution of the used lube oils under normal operating conditions.

‘From these results, it can be concluded that the auxiliary oil tank is not being used to add performance-boosting components, either to the main or to the combustion chamber via the sump breather into the air intake.’

Overall, all you can say is that the FIA quickly investigated the matter as soon as it arrived and has found that either Mercedes or Ferrari are doing anything untoward and are complying with the Technical Regulations that the FIA announce every season. With the FIA publishing this report over the course of the weekend; this should now put the rumours regarding this issue to an end and we can now look forward to hopefully a great second half of the F1 season.

The Italian Grand Prix: Round 12 of 17 in the 1995 Formula One World Championship. Heading into the race, Benetton driver Michael Schumacher leading the Drivers’ Championship by 66 points ahead of Williams driver Damon Hill in second place with 51 points ahead of Ferrari driver Jean Alesi who was in third plave with 32 points.

David Coulthard took Pole Position for the 1995 Italian Grand Prix.

In qualifying, David Coulthard had been unbeatable. The news that he was not being retained by Williams in 1996 seemed to have lifted a great weight from his shoulders and his old confidence which was lost in the mid-season because of illness and pressure was now back.

Coulthard achieved Pole Position ahead of Michael Schumacher qualified second in his Benetton but only thanks to some way over the limit driving in final qualifying. Gerhard Berger was third, giving the Ferrari fans hopes for the race and Damon Hill was fourth after a rare Renault engine failure when it mattered.

Jean Alesi qualified third for the 1995 Italian Grand Prix.

Jean Alesi qualified in fifth place ahead of Rubens Barrichello in his Jordan-Puegeot in sixth place, Mika Hakkinen in seventh place, Johnny Herbert in eighth place, Mark Blundell in ninth place and Heinz-Harald Frentzen who rounded off the top ten finishers of the session in his Sauber-Ford.

On race day on Sunday, Pole-sitter Coulthard spun off on the warm up lap, and initially retired from the race. Schumacher led but a midfield carambolage caused red flags and saw Andrea Montermini and Roberto Moreno retire from the race meant that the race had to be suspended and restarted. We also saw Pierluigi Martini retire from the race due to an differential problem.

But Coulthard was then able to start the race on pole again (in a spare car set up for his team mate Hill). Coulthard then took the lead and after a few laps feeling his way, he began to pull away from Berger who had beaten Schumacher off the line to second place.

In the early stages of the race, we saw Giovanni Lavaggi retire from the race on Lap 6 after spinning on the track, Aguri Suzuki retire from the race on Lap 10 after suffering a puncture on his Ligier-Mugen Honda.

Coulthard’s lead grew to 2.4secs but he then suffered a wheel-bearing failure which spun him into a sandtrap on Lap 13 of the race,

Michael Schumacher trying to talk to Damon Hill after their incident in the 1995 Italian Grand Prix on Lap 23.

On Lap 23 of the race, Hill and Schumacher had their second collision of the season. As Hill attempted to lap Taki Inoue’s Footwork, Hill crashed into the back of Schumacher which caused them both to retire. Schumacher ran to the Williams to confront Hill whilst the British driver sat in his cockpit but was pulled away by stewards immediately.

Schumacher later apologised to Hill when Inoue admitted the incident was his fault, as he had slid in front of Hill while being passed by Schumacher which then caused Hill to take evasive action and inadvertently run into the back of Schumacher’s car.

Gerhard Berger leading his team mate Jean Alesi on Lap 24 of the 1995 Italian Grand Prix. All rights reserved to Sutton Images.

This briefly left the Ferraris running first and second; much to the tifosi’s delight at their home race. On Lap 26, we saw Luca Badoer retire from the race after a spectacular accident. Luckily Badoer was okay and wasn’t hurt as a result of this accident.

However, Berger suffered a bizarre retirement when a TV camera on Alesi’s car flew off and destroyed Berger’s suspension. Berger was chasing Alesi hard when a TV camera mounted on the outside of Alesi’s rear wing fell off in the Curva Grande and bounced into Berger’s path and smashed his left front suspension to pieces.

The Austrian was left an uncomfortable passenger in his car as it slewed down the road and into the sandtrap. Alesi led the race with just 7 laps to go but subsequently retired with wheel bearing trouble.

In the final stages of the race, both the Jordan-Peugeot drivers of Eddie Irvine and Rubens Barrichello retire with problems with the hydraulics (Barrichello) and lack of oil and engine pressure for Irvine when both drivers were set in scoring points in the race.

Johnny Herbert wins the 1995 Italian Grand Prix ahead of Mika Hakkinen in second place and Heinz-Harald Frentzen in third place.

This succession of retirements handed a second victory of the year and of his career to eighth place man Johnny Herbert and then best-ever results to Mika Hakkinen who finished in second and Sauber driver Heinz Harald Frentzen who scored the first podium position for Sauber team in Formula 1.

Mark Blundell gave McLaren another boost with a fourth place while Mika Salo survived to be fifth (which was not bad considering he had had a spin and an extra pit stop) and Jean-Christophe Boullion picking up the final point for Sauber in sixth place after passing Max Papis on the final lap of the race.

Max Papis finished the race for Footwork-Hart in seventh place ahead of his team mate Taki Inoue in eighth place, Pedro Diniz in ninth place and Ukyo Katayama in tenth place.

The 1995 Italian Grand Prix saw Herbert achieve his second win of his career and also within the 1995 season and what a win it was. Herbert was there when misfortune affected the rest of the grid and he managed to keep himself out of trouble in order to pick up the win.

This race will always be remembered for Herbert’s win firstly and secondly widely remembered for the incident between Hill and Schumacher. It transpired that as a result of the incident, Hill received a one race suspended ban from the stewards which wasn’t understood by fans why he received it when Schumacher accepted the blame for the incident.

And as the 1995 World Championship leaded towards the next round in Portugal at the Estoril Circuit, Schumacher was leading the Driver’s Championship by 66 points ahead of Hill with 51 points and also ahead of Herbert who had 38 points in third place.

As I am sure you are all aware, this week has seen the final in-season test of Formula One in 2015 in Austria. And this is what every Formula One fan has been looking forward to since the end of the first in-season test session in Barcelona two months ago. Throughout two days at the first in-season test at Barcelona this week, we have seen the teams testing new developments for their cars; alongside tyres for Pirelli.

There have been unexpected issues, reasons for concern and signs of promise for everyone down the field this week. Question is: who came out on top?

Day One

Pascal Wehrlein finished at the top of the timesheets on Day 1 of the Austria test.

In the first day of the final in-season test in Austria, Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein led the way as F1 debutee Antonio Fuoco crashed the Ferrari on his debut.

Antonio Fuoco running in the early stages of Day 1 of the Austria test in heavy rain.

The rain was falling steadily when the session got under way, with Fuoco and McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne heading out on full wets for an installation lap. The track then remained empty thereafter before the session was red-flagged at the half hour mark when the rain intensified at the Red Bull Ring.

With conditions not expected to improve until the afternoon, discussions began as to whether to cancel the day’s running and extend the test until Thursday. However, after much deliberation by the track organisers; the decision was taken to run in the afternoon, as the weather began to improve and instead extend the day’s running by two hours.

An hour after the lunch break, Vandoorne broke the silence when he headed on full wets, swiftly followed by Fuoco and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen. Conditions on the track improved quickly with a switch to intermediates soon followed and it wasn’t long until the track dried sufficiently for dry rubber.

More rain fell with one hour before the test ended at 8pm (CET) and even though Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Susie Wolff and Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly headed out on a track that soon became dry enough for slicks, the times did not improve at all.

But it was Pascal Wehrlein who topped the timesheets on the first day of the first with a lap time of 1.11.005s to finish 0.187 seconds clear of Force India’s Esteban Ocon who finished the session in second place.

Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen finished the day in third place but he managed to complete the most laps of the day with 97 under his belt. Ferrari Academy driver Foccuo who won the 2013 Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS series clocked up an impressive number of laps on his debut.

Antonio Fuoco jumping out of his Ferrari after his incident on Day 1 of the Austria test.

But with three hours of running to go, the Italian put a wheel on the grass on the approach to Turn 1 and spun, hitting the wall and damaging the front-end of the car.

But he managed to finish in fourth place in the session ahead of Romain Grosjean in fifth place, Pierre Gasly in sixth place and Sauber test driver and Ferrari Academy driver Raffaele Marciello; who only put his first lap time on the board with three hours to finish in seventh place.

GP2 Championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne (who hands the car over to Fernando Alonso on Wednesday) was eighth fastest ahead of Williams Development Driver Susie Wolff –(who will be in the car for British Grand Prix FP1 session) finished in ninth place.

Day One Timesheet:-

Pascal Wehrlein, Mercedes-Mercedes, 1.11.005s, 67 laps

Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 1.11.192s, 76 laps

Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.11.328s, 97 laps

Antonio Fuoco, Ferrari, 1.11.331s, 71 laps

Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.11.509s, 45 laps

Pierre Gasly, Red Bull-Renault, 1.11.757s, 80 laps

Raffaele Marciello, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.11.826s, 53 laps

Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 1.12.530s, 76 laps

Susie Wolff, Williams-Mercedes, 1.13.248s, 39 laps

Day Two

Nico Rosberg tops the timesheets in the final day of the Austria test.

On the final day of the final in-season test in Austria today, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the pace at the front of the grid ahead of Ferrari test driver Esteban Gutierrez and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.

It was an all-round smoother day for the teams after rain played havoc on Tuesday, with a brief smattering of drizzle just before lunch the only interruption weather-wise.

The Red Bull team was on course for a trouble-free day when Daniel Ricciardo stopped at the pit-lane entry with a brake problem, bringing out the red flag with an hour to go. But the team made some adjustments on the car and got him back out with a few laps remaining in the session.

Gutierrez had a moment when he slid off the track and ran through the gravel just before lunch, but he rejoined unscathed and completed another lap before pitting. Before the session broke for lunch, Bottas set the pace in the morning with a 1.10.029s; even though Williams did not run the unique winglet spotted on the car on Tuesday.

Rosberg topped the timesheets with a lap time of 1.09.113s and was 0.818s ahead of Ferrari’s Esteban Gutierrez who finished the session in second place, and was one of eight drivers to complete more than 100 laps.

Valtteri Bottas ended the session in third place despite setting the pace in the morning as he did not improve as he switched from doing aerodynamic testing in the morning to set-up work in the afternoon. But Bottas finished ahead of reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann who made his debut in a Formula 1 car today and he achieved the most laps of anybody with 158 laps and finished the session in fourth place.

Pascal Wehrlein swapped the Mercedes (which he drove on Tuesday) for the Force India and finished fifth fastest with 132 laps on the board ahead of Lotus reserve driver Jolyon Palmer who ended the session in sixth place.

With all eyes on McLaren-Honda and their planned upgrade package that was brought to the Austrian GP that sadly were managed beyond repair when Fernando Alonso crashed in Sunday’s race. However, the parts the team had spares for were flown to Austria in time for the start of the session; with McLaren insisting it had enough to carry out some useful evaluations of the package.

As a result, Fernando Alonso finished the session in seventh place today after the McLaren-Honda team tested various new aero components (which included its shorter nose) and managed more than 100 laps running which is great progress for the team after a disappointing Austrian GP.

Despite all the problems he encountered on the track today, Daniel Ricciardo finished the session in eighth place and managed to get 116 laps under his belt. Ricciardo managed to finish ahead of Sauber driver Felipe Nasr who ended the session in ninth place.

Day Two Timesheet:-

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.09.113, 110 laps

Esteban Gutierrez, Ferrari, 1.09.931, 110 laps

Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.10.029, 79 laps

Marco Wittmann, Toro Rosso, 1.10.103, 158 laps

Pascal Wehrlein, Force India-Mercedes, 1.10.253, 132 laps

Jolyon Palmer, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.10.373, 109 laps

Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 1.10.718, 104 laps

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1.10.757, 116 laps

Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1.10.922, 138 laps

Conclusion

The second and final in-season test at Austria has produced some interesting results. Many Formula One fans were looking forward to seeing how the teams and the drivers would get on after the Grand Prix weekend.

We have seen Mercedes showing that they are the team to beat in terms of mileage and reliability from the session. And yes, it will bring them a crucial advantage in terms of how to improve the W07 before the next Grand Prix in Silverstone next week. There is no question about it, even though they had issues with the car; they still managed to set the pace and show that they are still the team to beat.

Sauber, Force India and Toro Rosso will once again use the mileage that they have gained from the test in order to improve their cars before the next race next week. In particular, Gasly and Wittmann have impressed me with their performances he put into the test session as a whole and I believe that this will help him develop further as a drivers while also ensuring that the teams keep an eye on his progress this season in GP2 (Gasly) and DTM (Wittmann).

And despite sadly Manor not being at the test for reasons that are understandable given their current situation; it will be interesting for the team to see what their rivals have achieved at the test and see if they can close the gap down to them.

Red Bull, McLaren, Williams and Ferrari and their performances have at least indicated that they are on the right track with developing and improving their cars further and have managed to gain invaluable track time that will no doubt push all four teams to improve their cars further and get back to competitive ways for this season.

But the final question that everyone will be asking once again is will Mercedes once again show the rest of the field even more pace with their W07 to keep the winning streak going as we head into Silverstone next week? We shall see.

With the Austrian GP just gone, all eyes will be upon the final in-season test at the Red Bull Ring this week in Austria and many of the teams have now officially confirmed their line ups over the past two days.

McLaren-Honda have announced that GP2 championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne will get his first taste of the 2015 McLaren when he takes part in the test this week in Austria. The Belgian will drive the MP4-30 on Tuesday, with Fernando Alonso taking over from him on Wednesday.

McLaren have announced this afternoon that they will be running a reduced upgrade programme in the test this week after the crash that Fernando Alonso had in the Austrian GP yesterday.

As was the case at the post-Spanish Grand Prix test, Nico Rosberg and Pascal Wehrlein will drive for Mercedes while Daniel Ricciardo and GP2 driver Pierre Gasly form Red Bull’s line-up.

Ahead of her second free practice appearance of the season at next month’s British Grand Prix, Susie Wolff will be in the Williams on Tuesday with Valtteri Bottas in action on Wednesday.

Pastor Maldonado spent a day in the Lotus at the first in-season test, so Romain Grosjean gets his shot in Austria, with reserve driver Jolyon Palmer getting more time in the car the following day.

Ferrari Academy driver Rafaele Marciello who is also competing in GP2 this year; will be in action for Sauber before handing over to Felipe Nasr.

Alongside his Mercedes duties, Wehrlein will spend a day driving the Force India. Mercedes-affiliated European Formula 3 champion turned GP3 title contender Esteban Ocon will then make his second appearance with the Force India team on Wednesday.

The test also features GP3 racer Antonio Fuoco, who will get his first taste of F1 when he drives for Ferrari on Tuesday. Esteban Gutierrez is in the car the following day for the Ferrari team.

Toro Rosso will be running Max Verstappen on Tuesday and DTM champion Marco Whittman on the final day of the test on Wednesday.

Here’s the official driver line up for the test this weekend in Austria as follows:-